Microsoft at E3
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Xbox One and Playstation 4 have going been battling each other for over a year now in the battle of the next-gen consoles and if I’m honest, PlayStation have been coming up ahead in the race.
But could this all be changing? Xbox One stood proud at this years’s E3 press event, but Microsoft weren’t just there to showcase their upcoming games for their successor console but to shower us with a whole load of other geeky treats. Here are some highlights of their showcase:
Halo 5
Of course Halo 5 would be featured! In my opinion, Halo 5 is the single best exclusive game for the Xbox One console. Microsoft hit us with an all-new trailer, and some in-game footage. The featured demo was shown through the eyes of Spartan Locke, who was featured in the webseries Halo: Nightfall, Locke runs into a forerunner enemy and learns about Master Chiefs’ involvement in the mythic skull and crossbones club. The trailer is full of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ as you see spaceships and masses of enemies crowding the screen. But Halo 5 has its differences to the previous games, gameplay-wise.
In Halo 5 it is no longer ‘player vs player’ but instead ‘player vs everything’. The Halo 5 multiplayer will focus on 24 players; one squad lead by the infamous Master Chief and the other by Spartan Locke. The environment of the newest Halo instalment will be around four times as large as the previous Halo maps and Microsoft have called this one a ‘giant leap’ forward. Halo 5, of course, remains Xbox exclusive and there was no information about a PC release date.
ReCore
ReCore was announced by Microsoft during their press conference, an entirely new game from the creators of Mega Man and Metroid Prime. Exclusive to Xbox One, ReCore is the work of Metroid Primes Armature and Keiji Inafune’s studio. The trailer focussed on a woman and her robot dog companion wondering through a sand-washed wasteland. The two are ambushed by a group of enemies, and in an act of courage the robot dog companion sacrifices itself to save the girl by blowing itself up. An orb then rises from the remains of the robot and transfers itself to a bigger robot, who continues to fight alongside the girl in its new body. The game is given a release of spring 2016 and leaves some excitement for next year’s Xbox exclusive games.
Backwards Compatibility
It’s not all game-releases that Microsoft have been showcasing this year. They have promised that their Xbox One will be backwards compatible. This is something that should have ideally been fully operational with the console upon its original release, but I suppose later is better then never. Microsoft stated that Xbox 360 games will run on the Xbox One, however, they then released a very limited list of ‘Available Games’, which hints at a Xbox-style emulation, which in the past has been responsible for breaking games. So, it’s a half promise. It may be backwards compatible, but only with a certain few selected games.
Xbox Elite Controller
Okay, the new controller is pretty cool. Dubbed the ‘Elite’ controller, it has swappable parts, interchangeable analog sticks, back panels and more. It is pretty, and will give us endless possibilities to make our controller truly our own (including, making your own custom parts, perhaps). The controller is, of course, wireless and will be compatible with the Xbox One and PC’s.
Rare Replay / Sea of Thieves
Microsoft own Rare, you all knew that right? Well, Rare’s 30th Anniversary is coming up and to celebrate this, Microsoft are bringing out a selection of Rare games to Xbox One including the ever popular titles; Banjo-Kazooie, Battletoads, Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark and more. That’s something exciting for Xbox players! I mean, yes, it’s just re-releasing games, but some of the best games are the oldest ones, and who wouldn’t want to relive their happy childhood gaming memories? Sign me up! Which brings me to Sea of Thieves! Sea of Thieves is a shiny brand new game from Rare, and looks to be pirate themed! Possibly an MMO game, it is exciting and I am hoping it’s going to be good. All we have to do now is wait and see.
Virtual Reality
This is the exciting part. Virtual Reality is the future of gaming, so far we have the Oculus Rift, and that is promising and amazing (if you haven’t had a chance to play with one yet, do try, it’s a whole new gaming experience). Microsoft announced their partnership with Valve’s SteamVR alongside their deal with Oculus from last week. To showcase their virtual reality they showed a Minecraft Hololens demo, but you can never really appreciate virtual reality unless you are playing it yourself.
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